OCC: New Foreclosures Fall 16 Percent in 4Q

April 6, 2012 (Jeff Alan)

Newly initiated foreclosures declined by 16 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 after spiking 21.1 percent in the third quarter according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Completed foreclosures increased 2.5 percent from the previous quarter and were 22.1 percent higher than in the fourth quarter of 2010.

A total of 1,272,287 loans in the OCC’s portfolio were in foreclosure at the end of the fourth quarter, down 4.1 percent from the previous quarter and 3.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010.

Of the 27.6 million loans in the OCC’s portfolio, 87.9 percent were current and performing at the end of the quarter. Mortgages that were 30-59 days delinquent remained unchanged from the previous quarter at 3.0 percent, while mortgages that were 60 days or more past due and delinquent loans to bankrupt borrowers increased from 4.9 percent in the third quarter to 5.0 percent at the end of the fourth quarter.

Although the overall level of delinquencies in first-lien mortgages held by the large national banks and federal savings associations under OCC’s supervision remains elevated, the delinquency rates remained stable during the fourth quarter and were still lower than in the same quarter in 2010.

Mortgage servicers under OCC’s supervision implemented 460,213 home retention actions in the fourth quarter, up 0.3 percent from the third quarter, but down 3.1 percent from a year ago.

Payment modifications through the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) continued to provide larger relief as the average principal and interest reduction under a HAMP modification was $593 compared to $430 for all modifications.

From the beginning of the government’s loan modifications efforts in 2008 through the end of the third quarter of 2011, mortgage servicers under OCC’s supervision have modified 2,395,565 mortgages. By the end of the fourth quarter, only 48.3 percent of those modifications have remained current or been paid off. Of the remaining modifications, 8.5 percent were 30 to 59 days delinquent, 17.6 percent were 60 days or more delinquent, 10.6 percent were in the process of foreclosure, and 6.1 percent had completed the foreclosure process

Loans that were modified by 10 percent or more performed better than those that were modified less than 10 percent. Of the loans that were modified which resulted in a payment reduction of over 10 percent, 54.4 percent were current and performing.

Of the loans that were modified which resulted in the payment being reduced by less than 10 percent, only 34.5 percent remained current and performing.

OCC’s quarterly report covers about 60 percent of all first-lien mortgages in the United States, worth $5.4 trillion in outstanding balances.